Third baseman Cody Asche joined the Philadelphia Phillies last July when Michael Young was traded. He impressed everyone with his defensive skills, along with his bat. Everyone believed he was going to be the starting third baseman of 2014. Were their predictions correct?

It seems as if Asche is going to be at third base on Opening Day. However, he does have competition. Rookie Maikel Franco is impressing manager Ryne Sandberg. Sandberg has told the media that Franco is already showing good moves on the defensive side, especially on hard plays. It also seems as if Franco has been impressive in live batting practice.

There is no reason why Asche is not going to earn his spot. He proved last season why he deserves to be there. He showed he could handle the pressure in the major leagues. He has been doing nothing but trying to improve. Imagine what he could do in a full season. Asche only played in 50 games. He finished with an average of .235. If he had the opportunity to play in more games, I am sure that would have been much higher. He had 22 RBIs and five home runs. Asche provided offense when the Phillies needed it.

Asche doesn’t necessarily want to be a power hitter. He wants to help his team. He wants to stop ground balls no matter what direction they come from. He wants to drive in runs. He wants to beat out a ground ball. He will do whatever it takes to win. That sounds like the kind of third baseman that needs to start.

Asche is just 23-years old. If he has this much talent now, he can easily be the third baseman of the future. He just has to continue to beat out the competition.

The difference between Matt Carpenter the leadoff man and Carpenter in any other spot in the order has been huge this season. As they enter the stretch run, St. Louis should keep batting him leadoff. Read More